The Wrasslin' thread

[Helmsly]

Quote

Netflix will also become the television home for all WWE shows outside the U.S. That includes fellow weekly shows "SmackDown" and "NXT" as well as annual live events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble, as well as documentaries, original series and additional projects.

Crazy stuff. I wonder what happens to the WWE Network then? It would be a shame if all that archive content outside of the just disappeared. I love going back and watching random old WWE shows from the 80's like Prime Time Wrestling.

Anyway, this is an amazing deal for WWE.

 

Edited January 23 by Helmsly

[WackerJr]

The Netflix deal is huge!  I agree with eyes on what happens to the WWE Network.  I like it for the latest PLEs and access to some of the older ones.  It’ll be interesting to see how Netflix handle them, whether they’re all saved or time-limited, whether they have access to any older stuff, etc.

Rock vs Roman has been hyped as a theoretical for so long now, with Roman claiming to be ‘Head of the Table’ for so long and the most important member of the family.  I’m excited if this finally happens, but after being out of the ring for so long I’m not sure how good the actual match would be.  Roman’s style of match suits The Rock (slow and story-lead), but we’ll see.  Of course, WWE could be baiting us all as it’s done so often in the past (take Survivor Series a couple years ago dedicated to celebrating The Rock, except there ended up being no appearance by the man himself…).

[Hero-of-Time]

2 minutes ago, WackerJr said:

 I’m excited if this finally happens, but after being out of the ring for so long I’m not sure how good the actual match would be. 

The Rock looked completely knackered after that little tussle after the promo. He was gasping for air when trying to talk after said tussle. His stamina is gonna need a lot of work.

[BowserBasher]

Ugh. No interest in Netflix at all but I’m assuming everyone with a WWE Network subscription will get some sort of carry over to Netflix, (im sure this is what happened when it went to Peacock in the US). All I hope is that there is an easy way to watch the shows after they air live. And they are not stuck to some limited thing. I’m guessing the way it’ll happen is that there will probably be a new section added to Netflix that is just a WWE Network section. 
 

on the Rock/Roman thing @EEVILMURRAY, Head of the table is like the leader of a pack. Roman has been using that phrase for a while along with his Tribal Chief gimmick. So Rock saying he will sit at the head of the table is saying he wants to dethrone Roman. It all helps that they are all part of the wider Samoan family in wrestling. 

[Jimbob]

As predicted, the WWE Network outside the US ends later this year due to the Netflix deal

[Helmsly]

Well, hopefully the legacy content will still be available in some way. I can't imagine it all going to Netflix  (there's over 15,000 different things to watch on the network) but maybe WWE will just start uploading it all to youtube, which they've been kinda doing recently as well as live streaming old Royal Rumbles in the current lead up to this weekend PPV.

[BowserBasher]

It will be such a missed opportunity if Netflix don’t do something with all the old content. It’s been so awesome having so much wrestling content going back many years in one place. 

[Hero-of-Time]

I see WSJ posted an article about Vince yesterday evening.

Quote

A woman who received a payout from WWE boss Vince McMahon has accused McMahon, the company and a former executive of sex trafficking in a new lawsuit that raises questions about the breadth of an internal company probe conducted by a law firm last year.

Janel Grant, a former employee at WWE's headquarters, said in a lawsuit filed Thursday that she was abused and sexually exploited by McMahon while he was chief executive. She alleged that McMahon lured her with promises of career advancement, and then he allegedly exploited her and trafficked her to other men inside the company.

Grant alleged that McMahon shared nude photos and explicit videos of her without consent with other WWE employees, unnamed executives and stars, and directed her to have sex with them. The suit cited a July 2020 text that said others at WWE wanted to have sex with her after seeing photos on McMahon's phone, and the group laughed when he told them, "She may scream and try to say NO!!although it would B difficult to say anything with a c— down her throat."

Grant alleged that the company diverted attention away from McMahon's abuse by focusing on the accounting for the payouts. Others at WWE knew about McMahon's misconduct but worked to conceal the wrongdoing, according to the suit.

Grant began working in June 2019 as an "administrator-coordinator," a position McMahon created for her in WWE's legal department. She said she expressed concerns that the job felt unearned, but McMahon told her that all she needed to do was not tell anyone and that "it just has to look legit." Colleagues complained about overflowing inboxes, but Grant had little work.

Meanwhile, McMahon allegedly sent her sexually explicit messages and his sexual demands increased. He forcefully used sex toys on her, including dildos he named after WWE wrestlers, causing her bruising and bleeding, the suit said. Grant alleged that she complained to McMahon and made attempts to end the relationship.

In March 2020, McMahon began sharing sexually explicit photographs and videos of Grant with other men, including other WWE executives and a former UFC heavyweight champion with whom WWE was actively trying to sign to a new contract, according to the suit. In a May 2020 encounter, McMahon defecated on her head during a threesome, the suit said.

 

[Happenstance]

[EEVILMURRAY]

She blew through that payoff quickly.

[Happenstance]

Well there's Vince gone again. Resigned from TKO.

[Happenstance]

Rumours are that Vince has been offered Klopp's position at Liverpool next season 

[darksnowman]

He might be better suited overseeing the VAR storylines.

Royal Rumble tonight boys.

[BowserBasher]

14 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Well there's Vince gone again. Resigned from TKO.

I’m more inclined to think he was asked to resign. 
 

Yep it’s Rumble time. Unfortunately it looks like the winner is going to be easy to pick. For the women’s rumble the last graphic they had only actually showed four named entrants. So I’m guessing it’ll be one of those. I’m hoping Bayley. The men’s seems a bit more open but I’m thinking it may be between two. I wouldn’t actually be surprised if they do a draw, with it being WM 40 and they have had big main events at these ones. If not I’d love to see Gunther win this year. 

[Hero-of-Time]

I wonder if Vince will get away with it again? Usually when this stuff has cropped up in the past he has paid someone off and gone and hid away. I imagine he will bring others down with him if it does go further.

[WackerJr]

4 hours ago, BowserBasher said:

I’m more inclined to think he was asked to resign. 
 

Yep it’s Rumble time. Unfortunately it looks like the winner is going to be easy to pick. For the women’s rumble the last graphic they had only actually showed four named entrants. So I’m guessing it’ll be one of those. I’m hoping Bayley. The men’s seems a bit more open but I’m thinking it may be between two. I wouldn’t actually be surprised if they do a draw, with it being WM 40 and they have had big main events at these ones. If not I’d love to see Gunther win this year. 

I LOVE the Rumble, even if it’s let me down on too many occasions.  I think Bayley is a strong guess.  I can’t see anyone else winning it (Becky Lynch & Bianca seem too obvious) unless Sasha Banks / Mercedes Mone makes a surprise return!  I’d love to see Mickie James enter again and get a decent showing.

I agree about the Men’s.  There aren’t a lot of contenders, but those they have are difficult to pick from.  CM Punk seems a strong bet, but would they trust him to headline Wrestlemania when he hasn’t yet had a televised match since returning?  Cody again is almost too obvious at this point.  Drew is doing some fantastic character work, but he & Cody have both lost in their title matches.  Gunther’s had one of the strongest bookings in WWE.  After his recent good promo with Seth, is that WWE fooling us?  Finally, could we see The Rock enter? He doesn’t need the Rumble to earn his shot though…. Tough to call, but that’s exciting!  I’m guessing CM Punk but can’t wait to see this.

Oh, and really hoping Kofi nails his spot this year!

[BowserBasher]

Spoiler

Well that was a precent goos show eve if it was easy to call the winners.

Women's Rumble. Again great match showing off a lot of talent throughout. Had heard that Naomi was a possible showing, never been a fan of hers but she made a good showing. The other TNA woman to make an appearance did good too. I wonder if we will see her in WWE at some point. Impressed me. I hadn't even considered that Jade Cargill would make her debut here. And boy what a debut, straight for Mia Jax and lifted her up like a feather. And eliminated her just as easy. I knew next to nothing of her, apart from her being signed and that she was a big deal, but damn she won me over right there. The final three in Cargil, Bayley and a returning Liv Morgan actually made me think it could have gone either way. Each one would have made for a great reason to go after Ripley. Liv was taken out by her, Jade would just have been a great dream match and of course Bayley and taking all the belts for Damage Control. I still feared for Bayley and it just felt like that would happen, she'd get all the way there and lose. I was genuinely excited when she won it though. She fully deserves it after all the work she has put in this past year. She's taken many of DC's losses and was always taking a pin to Belair. I'm so glad she has her spot in WM. 

Universal Title, I really was hoping this was finally it, Roman could have lost the match and set up the Rock match without taking a pin, but then I guess to end his reign like that wouldn't be the way to go really. I did think if anything Orton was going to take the win here, but seemed to just be another run of the mill interfering Solo to save Roman match. Just have to winder how they set up Mania now, especially after the mens result....

KO, Logan. Stupid finish, well I guess not in story sense but can we just get the title off of Logan Paul. I'm guessing there will be more to the KO/Logan story on the way it ended and maybe he'll lose at WM too. 

Mens Rumble. I was worried we'd have another win from the number 1 spot again, so seeing Jay come out at number 1 kinda eased that a bit, but then to have Jimmy come out at 2 was just great to see, didn't expect that. Not too may surprises in this one, I had called Born Breakker being an NXT star to be in it but I thought there would be a few more. Seemed like some pretty standard stuff throughout the Rumble, I wonder if Kofi is taking a break from the feats of getting back into the ring due to the errors that have gone wrong. It does make his feats more special when they do happen. Cody entering half way through was much better than 1 or 30, just gave it that litte bit of jeopardy. Punk entering at 27 made it feel like he was going to go the distance. I'm sure the 27 spot was at one point the best place for winners. Was then wondering on the last two entrants. Drew was a given but then I had thought if it wasn't a current roster guy there were two potential surprises. The Rock and a slim chance of Hogan (only cause he had mentioned it in the rumble promo) but then I thought of the rumours of Austin/Punk at WM and how much the roof would have blown off if the glass shattered at 30. However it was Sami so at that point I pretty much knew it was between Cody and Punk. I could see it going either way or a draw. Of the two I'm glad it was Cody though, just never been a Punk fan and didn't want him winning. 

So now to before. It seems that Cody had chosen Roman by the end of the show there. So where does this leave things? I'm guessing winner of Elimination Chamber will face Seth but I see a cash in possibly happening there from Priest too. But more importantly where does this leave the Rock and Roman? Is Roman going to do double duty? Will we not get the Roman/Rock match now. I do see this as the best way to finally end the title reign of Roman, Cody didn't do it the first time, fought back and won it. Plus I. just think it is time to take the title off Roman. It's been a monumental reign but I think it's past its prime. Now if the time for it to end.

 

Overall a great show as always. Can't wait to see where the stories lead from here into WresleMania.

The Road to Wreslmania if usually always the best part of the year and this looks to be shaping up to be another great run in. Bring it on.

[Jimbob]

Spoiler

I stayed up to watch the event live for a change.  Women's Rumble was probably the better of the two, few returns and an impressive debut from Jade Cargill.  Followed her from her start in AEW, to becoming the longest reigning TBS Champion (and undefeated streak) to now featuring in WWE.  She's put in the work at the Performance Centre (she needed it tbf, see if she can cut a decent promo wherever she ends up).

Was kind of hoping the Fatal Four way would mean the end to the Reigns title era, but i guess WWE are really pushing for him to go even longer.  Maybe he'll lose at Mania, maybe he'll retire as Champion.  Who knows.

US title was kind of a throwaway match, but maybe Logan might go full-time.  Having two titles (WWE and US) on two part-time Superstars doesn't make sense.

They have something golden with R-Truth here, especially with him mistaking the Women's Rumble for the Men's.  Then getting the "hot tag" in the Men's Rumble.

With Cody winning the Men's, maybe this time he'll finish his story and win the big one.  No way WWE would have him win the Rumble back to back, and not win the title each time.  Wasted if that becomes reality.  Kind of disappointed he won, the announcers gave it away a bit by mentioning "Cody could be the first back to back winner in 26 years" over and over again.

 

[darksnowman]

1 hour ago, Jimbob said:

  Rumble Spoilers (Hide contents)

Kind of disappointed he won, the announcers gave it away a bit by mentioning "Cody could be the first back to back winner in 26 years" over and over again.

 

Yeah the commentators never seem to be able to just mention these things in passing. The other week, I watched back the 1992 Rumble and they don't half let the cat out of the bag banging on about Ric Flair all the time. Sure he went in early but no need to make it obvious what's unfolding.

[Happenstance]

I see CM Punk is injured yet again. The guy is falling apart.

[BowserBasher]

14 hours ago, Happenstance said:

I see CM Punk is injured yet again. The guy is falling apart.

Yep. Torn tricep. 
 

I think the rumble has become more of part of a story now rather than catapulting the next big star. I remember it used to always be someone on the verge of being a big star and the rumble was the final punch they needed. That seems to be what Money in the Bank is now and the rumble is start of WM main event match, as such it’s just a big name winning. I’d love for a rumble again where you just don’t know who will win and maybe it’ll be a guy (or girl) who’s just getting there but need that extra. 

[Jimbob]

Only his 2nd match since coming back to WWE (1st televised) and injured again.  Same type of injury he had in AEW as well.

He has to be made of glass, so prone to picking up any kind of injury.

[Helmsly]

 

[Happenstance]

 

Just watching Wrestling Bios video on Over the Edge 99. Been years since I watched anything on this and its still really hard to watch.

[BowserBasher]

I remember that PPV and what happened. It was just so surreal and seeing that they never showed the ring at all and always had the camera on JR or the crowed, you just knew it was serious. 
 

Back to now, and it seems that after the events of SmackDown, it seems everyone is pissed that the main event for WM is now set and it doesn’t include Cody. Seems that t even if they did want the mega match between Rock and Roman, it was not like this.